


Project: Ishtar

by BardofHeartDive, bioticfox (ayambik)



Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombies, Canon-Typical Violence, M/M, ME2 Retelling, Medical Procedures, Needles, Zombie Husks, Zombie Typical Gore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-27
Updated: 2018-05-27
Packaged: 2019-05-14 08:50:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14766413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BardofHeartDive/pseuds/BardofHeartDive, https://archiveofourown.org/users/ayambik/pseuds/bioticfox
Summary: After the destruction of the Normandy, John Shepard wakes up and husks have evolved into a zombie-like creatures, complete with infectious bites. Cerberus thinks he is the key to the cure, but can he trust them?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Woohoo, MEBB time! [Fox's](http://bioticfox.tumblr.com/) first collaborative MEBB and [Bard's](https://bardofheartdive.tumblr.com/) first MEBB full stop *cheering*. A really big thank you to our wonderful artist [Lehonk](http://lehonk.tumblr.com), who created some amazing pieces for our story, and massive thanks to [Azzy](http://azzydarling.tumblr.com/) as well for running the MEBB every year. You are both amazing <3
> 
> You can check out the awesome art Lehonk made here on tumblr.

“Wake up, Commander.”

Shepard distantly heard a voice in his dreams. It was floating, far away, and the words sounded strange and foreign in his head. The second time was louder, but he couldn’t quite make out the words amongst the static. He frowned, trying to focus. It sounded important, though he didn’t know why.

John woke up.

“Shepard, do you hear me? Get out of that bed now- this facility is under attack.”

A crash reverberated through the room, echoes building upon echoes to culminate in a harsh and disorientating din. John squinted at the sterile white lights above him, the blurry lines finally snapping into focus. He had no memory of this place. Another loud bang shook the walls. The urgency in the voice over the speakers had adrenaline pumping through his veins and he fumbled to extract himself from the bed, pulling away wires and tubes from his body.

Glamourous it was not. Shepard tripped as he stood, only staying upright by the sheer luck of falling toward the railings, which he grabbed and clung to as another tremor hit the building. One of the monitors he had been attached to toppled over, and screeched along the floor with a jarring metallic whine, painful in his ears. Too painful. Everything was too loud, too bright, and too much sensation all at once.

“There’s a pistol in the locker on the other side of the room. Hurry!”

Shepard hauled himself towards the locker, one foot in front of the other, bare feet hitting cold tile in an increasingly steady pace as he adjusted to his surroundings. The floor shook under him, though whether that was from the attack or the effects of whatever drugs he was on, he didn’t know.

The keypad to the locker blurred in front of him, even as he pressed his fingers firmly against the keys. It swung open, seemingly keyed to his biometrics almost hitting him in the face. A few rapid blinks later and his eyes began to adjust to the relative darkness inside the locker, and the lone pistol inside swam into view.

It… would not have been his first choice for a weapon. It was old, and given that he was in a medbay, probably wasn’t a first line of defence. For anyone. On the voice’s insistence he picked it up, though his fingers seemed sluggish, and the small, simple task of holding a pistol, something that should be second nature to Commander Shepard, seemed to require a monumental amount of effort.

“Good, now, there’s an armoury down the hall. Visuals have been knocked out, but I can try to direct you. Head out of the door to your right, and then turn left at the end of the hall. Be careful.”

Just as indicated the door was directly opposite, on the far side of the room, which began to spin with the too fast movement of his head as he turned. He clutched the locker as he took two tentative steps forward, and resisted the strong urge to shake his head to clear his vision. Chances were it wouldn’t help. The door seemed to get further and further away as he walked and it was a shock when he came to rest against it, the metal cold against his skin. He reached down to the lock.

The door opened and he was immediately knocked back by a husk. He lost his grip on the gun as it landed on top of him and sank its teeth into his shoulder. The pain sent another surge of adrenaline through him and he swung his other hand at the husk, hitting it in the face. It released its hold to snarl at him and he hit it again, this time under the jaw with enough force to wrench its head back at a sickening angle. He grabbed it by the shoulders and rolled, throwing the thing off him, then scrambled to his feet and got his first good look at it.

Although it looked more like a husk than anything else, it wasn’t exactly like the ones he had fought before. Like the others it was unnaturally gray with luminous blue eyes and cables and wires exposed in places, but there was a texture to its skin that seems almost… well, human despite its color. It also had hair and fingernails, though several patches had been torn out of its scalp revealing the bone and metal underneath and a few of its nails had been ripped and torn.

And it was already starting to move again. He retrieved the gun and shot it in the head, though his hand was shaking so badly the first bullet only hit its cheek. The remaining half of its face snarled at him so he fired again, this time managing to hit it between the eyes. He would have shot it again for good measure but the thermal clip overheated.

He needed another heatsink. He needed to get to the armoury. He needed answers.

\---

The hallways seemed to sprawl in all directions, a genuine maze of corridors and rooms. Shepard was certain he would have stumbled around for hours if he didn’t have the voice guiding him over the speaker, though where the final destination was, he wasn’t sure. He’d spotted a few signs for a shuttle bay as he dodged husks in the walkways. The place was crawling with them. Evacuation seemed like a good plan, and he hoped he was making good time to the exit.

The next corner, however, led him to yet another hallway. It was a dead end, with rows of lockers and a few pieces of armour strewn around on benches lining the walls. Shepard walked cautiously forward. Most of the lockers were empty of anything he could use, doors left hanging open, the owners’ personal items haphazardly pushed out of the way. He stumbled over to one of the few remaining intact, luckily containing most of a full set of armour. The rest he could scavenge from the benches. He grabbed the gear inside and made a point of not thinking about why the armour had never been claimed. It wouldn’t help to wonder why the owner never made it back to protect themselves, though the result worked in his favour.

He found his first signs of life a short while later. The stairs he was climbing up ended on a landing with two locked doors, one of which was framed with large, reinforced windows. Through those windows he could see a woman at the panel on the other side, trying to unlock the door. She happened to look up and her mouth started moving. Shepard couldn’t hear the words but she was obviously desperate, pleading for his help.

“Shepard, you need to keep going,” the voice prodded.

“There’s a woman on the other side of the door in front of me. I need you to open the lock.”

There was a small pause and then, “That area is in lockdown. I can’t open it without overriding the quarantine.”

“She needs help,” John insisted. “Just open the damn door.”

The woman looked over her shoulder at the hall behind her and her mouth opened in a silent scream. Tears streamed down her cheeks and she pounded frantically on the glass. Shepard watched through the window as a group of husks ran out of the hall and piled onto her, tearing into her with their teeth. One spotted him and leapt toward him. It hit the glass hard enough that he could feel the vibration from the impact.

He staggered backward and through the other door.

He never thought he’d be so happy to hear the sound of gunfire. It meant there was someone else alive and fighting close by. Peeking his head around the corner, he saw a single man hunkered behind a crate with a shotgun. He caught sight of Shepard when he stopped to reload and waved him over.

“I didn’t think you were supposed to be up yet,” the man said as Shepard skidded into cover next to him. “What are you doing here?”

“You tell me,” John answered. “I don’t even know where ‘here’ is.”

“Right. Sorry about that. I’m Jacob Taylor. Things must be worse than I thought if Miranda’s got you running around.”

As if to emphasize the point, the crate in front of them rocked as a husk landed on top of it. It growled as it pounced down at them but stopped abruptly in midair, caught in Jacob’s biotic field. He shot it once in the head then let his biotics go. It landed in a crumpled heap between them.

“What the hell are these things?” Shepard asked, nudging it with the toe of his boot.

“Husks.”

“Nuh-uh,” John cut him off, shaking his head. “I fought husks before, on Eden Prime and all over the galaxy. These are different.”

“They’re mutated. Look, I’d be happy to play 20 questions with you as soon as we get to the shuttle. It’s not far to the hangar, just through the hall, but we have to get through that first.”

The crates they were hiding behind had been arranged as a makeshift barricade at the top of half a flight of stairs. There was a small commons at the bottom with at least half a dozen husks in it. Most of them were huddled in small groups and John was nearly sick when he realized each group had formed around a corpse.

“I only count 7,” Shepard said. “I say we just make a break for it. Maybe your biotics can help clear the way? And then once we reach that hall we lock the doors shut behind us?”

“Just tell me when,” Jacob confirmed.

Shepard gave him a tight nod. “On my count. One. Two. Three!”

Both of them broke cover, sprinting for the hall. If John had been able to focus on anything besides the rhythm of his feet and gun in his hand, he would have been impressed with how Jacob fell in sync with him. He kept pace, never pulling ahead or dropping behind, and timed his biotic bursts perfectly. When they reached the doorway, Shepard provided cover while he got the doors. They slid into place, locking behind them.

“This way to the hangar,” Jacob said. “Let’s get the hell off this deathtrap.”

\---

Three floors and two near-encounters later, they arrived outside their destination. The door to the hangar opened and John was immediately met with the barrels of two guns. One was in the hands of a striking woman with dark hair, the other was held by a bearded man kneeling at a terminal. The woman lowered her weapon when she saw they were human, but the other man was slower. His bullet ricocheted off the ground at Shepard’s feet and bounced harmlessly off the armor on his leg.

“Jesus, Wilson!” Jacob yelled. “Friendlies! Stand down!”

“Shit! Sorry!” the man said. He fumbled with putting his gun away, his hands shaking so badly that he dropped it. He started to pick it up but the woman got there first. She emptied the chamber and put it away with practiced ease, shooting a glare in the man’s direction.

“The data, Wilson,” she hissed as she engaged the safety and tucked the pistol into the holster on her hip. Only then did she address the other two.

“Shepard. Good to see you up and about. I was worried they’d get to you before we could make contact.”

“You’re my mysterious guide, I assume?” John frowned over at the man even as he addressed the woman to the left. He didn’t seem to be coping well with the stress, scratching at his ankle, tugging on his shirt collar.

“I am. Miranda Lawson. And I see you’ve met Jacob. We’re in charge of your… revival.”

“I’ve heard. And what about the man with the itchy trigger finger? Does he have a name?”

“Wilson. Currently in charge of data retrieval only,” she stressed, when Wilson started to turn around to introduce himself. He shuddered under her glare and returned his attention to the terminal, fingers slipping over the keys, sweat forming on his brow. “As soon as he’s finished we’ll board the shuttle and get you out of here.”

“What about everyone else?”

“You and that data are the only two things I care about right now.” Miranda glanced at Wilson and pursed her lips. “Almost finished?”

“Yeah,” he said. A bead of sweat trickled down his forehead and the corners of her mouth turned down just a little more. “It should be just another-”

He never finished the sentence because Miranda shot him three times in the back of the head.

“What the hell?” Jacob yelled. “Miranda?”

“He was infected,” she answered, as simply as if she was commenting on the weather. The terminal in front of Wilson’s body beeped and she retrieved the OSD. “Come on. We need to get out of here.”

Jacob cast a look at Wilson’s body and crossed his arms over his chest. Miranda sighed and lifted up his left pant leg. There was some kind of wound on his ankle, the broken skin already ashen and oozing yellow-gray drainage. Jacob’s posture changed immediately and he followed her away from the body toward the shuttle.

“I’ve set the bombs. We can remotely detonate them as soon as we’re a safe distance away,” Miranda confirmed to Jacob as they boarded.

“There’s still people alive in there!” Shepard didn’t yell at them, but it was a near thing.

“Not for long,” Jacob answered. “And it’s better to blow it up now than risk those things escaping. Trust me.”

“Then send in an elite team, wipe the husks out.”

“It’s not worth the risk.” Miranda looked on. Her face was passive, a neutral expression adorning her features when she locked eyes with Shepard. “Our elite soldiers are better used elsewhere. The station is lost.”

\---

Shepard sat down as the shuttle flew upwards and felt like he could breathe for the first time, but it didn’t last long. As soon as the danger was gone his body started screaming. His muscles felt overused and overstimulated, like too many rounds in the arena, but he’d barely lifted his pistol. He was N7; he was better than this. He shook his head but it felt heavy, his body sluggish, and he leant back heavily on the shuttle wall, eyes drooping against his will.

“Are you okay, Shepard? I know you’ve just woken up. I can do a full medical exam when we land, but if you need anything now, just let me know.”

“I’m fine,” he answered, though from the look on Miranda’s face she didn’t believe him. “One of the damn things just bit me.”

The words hadn’t fully left his mouth before Jacob had a barrier up and a pistol pointed at his head. Miranda’s reaction was not quite as severe, though he was pretty sure she just had a better poker face.

His suspicions were confirmed by the waver in her voice when she asked, “When?”

“When what?” he asked, keeping his attention on Jacob, who in turn was keeping his attention on him. His finger was precariously close to the trigger and John didn’t like it.

“When did it bite you, Shepard,” she snapped.

“While I was in the medbay,” he answered. He was trying to keep his voice calm, though not quite succeeding. “Right after I woke up.”

“Impossible,” Miranda murmured, bringing up her omni-tool. “The breach started 1700, even given twenty minutes before before you were moving that’s still over half an hour. Show me the bite. I need to see it.”

Slowly he reached up to unclip his shoulder plates, removing his gauntlet and chest piece to give Miranda easy access to his shoulder. She pushed aside the light fabric of the medical scrubs he wore underneath, already somewhat torn and frayed, not having been designed for use under his armour.

She lightly poked and prodded, gloved fingers pressing against his skin. It ached more than it hurt, but his whole body hurt, so it wasn’t really distinguishable amongst the rest of the noise in his system.

“Remarkable,” she said under her breath, not taking her eyes away from John’s shoulder.

“What?” Jacob asked.

“It looks like… a bite. A regular human bite. There’s some minor swelling and blood, but no signs of the infection, no drainage, no skin decay. Some medigel and it should be fixed right up.”

Jacob looked at Miranda like she had told him Shepard was sprouting a second head.

“What’s going on?” John asked.

“You’re about to save the galaxy, commander,” she answered. “Again.”

\---

John asked question after question during the remainder of the shuttle ride but it didn’t do him any good. Jacob wouldn’t say a word to him since discovering he had been bitten, just sat with his back to wall with his gun drawn. He supposed he should be thankful that it wasn’t pointed at him anymore. Miranda alternated between poking and prodding at him and giving orders and reports to unnamed contacts via omni-tool. All she would tell him was he’d get his answers once they docked.

Not from her though it seemed. She disappeared down a flight of stairs after telling him to stay there, her team would arrive shortly. She was right; a few minutes after she left a fleet of researchers and lab workers descended on him, all wearing medical quarantine suits. They took his vitals and blood samples, as well as a number of tests and scans. By the time they were done and Shepard was buttoning himself into some proper clothes, Miranda had returned and was chatting with Jacob in hushed voices.

“The Illusive Man would like to speak to you,” she said, eventually turning to address Shepard.

“Will he be able to give me some answers?” John asked, an edge slipping into his voice.

Miranda was unphased. “More than either of us could give you. Just take the stairs down. He’s waiting for you.”

Shepard had expected to meet the Illusive Man face to face, however the room was empty save for a quantum entanglement communicator unit. It activated, projecting the image of a man in an incredibly expensive suit. He was sitting in shadows, holding a cigar in one hand.

“Lawson sent ahead word,” he said. “Apparently you’ve been bitten.”

“I have,” Shepard answered. “I’ve also been shot at, nearly killed by zombie-husks, watched a station get blown up, been stabbed like a pin-cushion and otherwise treated like a lab rat without even a shred of explanation. What the hell is going on here?”

The Illusive Man was even cooler than Miranda. He took a long drag from his cigar before asking, “Where would you like to start?”

“Why don’t you start with my ship getting blown up by Reapers. And don’t tell me it was geth or pirates or slavers, it was fucking Reapers.”

The other man flicked the ash off the end of his cigar, then tapped a few controls on the arm of his chair. A wall of images appeared, mostly news footage of the attack on the Normandy, though there were a few that appeared to be memorial services and award presentations.

“In July 2383, the SSV Normandy was destroyed over Alchera. Approximately 20 crew members, including you commander, were declared killed in action shortly after. Official reports attributed the incident to batarian pirates but we knew what you know: that the real culprit was a Reaper scout ship. The Alliance wanted to cover up the whole thing, sweep it under the rug. They were too concerned with protocols and appearances to do what needed to be done. We recovered your body and set to do what was necessary, regardless of its impossibility. And we did. We brought you back.”

This time Shepard’s curiosity got the better of him and he interrupted. “Back?”

The Illusive Man smiled the way someone smiles when they know they’ve gotten the better of you, and John’s dislike for him settled in a little deeper.

“You were dead, Shepard,” he answered. “You are Lazarus, come from the dead.’”

He hardly waited a moment before continuing. Another tap and the images changed again, this time showing medical and military personnel in hazmat suits working in rooms, then buildings, then whole cities surrounded with k-barriers and razor wire fences. Everything was covered with quarantine warnings. The zombie-husks started appearing in shots, first only a few but soon there were dozens, hundreds, thousands. Chaos followed, looting, riots, crowds of refugees travelling through broken streets and abandoned cities.

“The first documented case of the infection was in a hospital in Ferris Fields in October 2384, however it’s likely that several colonies were lost to the infection before then but blamed on pirate or slaver attacks. Even now our understanding of the infection is limited due to its pathophysiology. What we know is it spreads through a bite from an infected host to a living victim of any sentient species, and turns the infected into a husk themselves. The incubation period is short, usually no more than fifteen minutes after exposure. It is completely resistant to all current medical treatments including antimicrobials, radiation, chemo- and cryo-therapy, and amputation. The change can take as little as an hour after symptoms first appear, with 100% conversion rate by hour four.”

All of the images disappeared and the Illusive Man peered at Shepard with a look that made his skin crawl.

“Until you.”

“Of course me,” John muttered. His hand went to his shoulder and rubbed the bandage. The wound underneath was starting to itch. “I’m beginning to think I would have rather stayed dead.”

There was the slightest hint of amusement in the Illusive Man’s voice when he continued, “We have a ship ready for you and a pilot to fly her. They say he’s the best.”

“I am the best,” a familiar voice said. Shepard turned around to see Joker heading down the steps toward him. “Hey, Commander.”

“I know his work,” Shepard added. He smiled at the pilot and winked. “I don’t know. I think most of it’s hype.”

“Ouch. Just like a rib fragment through the spleen.”

“Our original plans have changed,” the Illusive Man cut in. “At the time of Project: Lazarus’ conception, the Reapers were the biggest threat. Now it’s their husks and the infection. And once again, Shepard, you are the key to humanity’s survival.”


	2. Chapter 2

At the Illusive Man’s suggestion, their first stop was Omega where a salarian doctor, Professor Mordin Solus, ran a clinic. According to his dossier Dr. Solus had worked with the STG, specializing in biological weaponry. His expertise made him the best candidate for creating a cure. Leaving the Normandy at the dock, John, Miranda, and Jacob headed from the main streets and down to the lower levels.

The slums were some of the worst Shepard had ever seen. They’d been barricaded and sealed from the outside by people panicked about the spread of the infection. All the healthy people inside left to their doom after the first few reported cases in the slums. Either they’d die from the bite, or from starvation if they managed to hide long enough. And Cerberus reports placed Mordin Solus right in the middle.

They’d gained access with a combination of bribery and threatening gestures with large weapons, and slowly picked a path through the squalid apartments and streets littered with bodies. They rounded the next corner, and were met with several small fires, each with a handful of people around them. They were covered in dirt, dressed in rags and scraps of armor, and armed with decade-old guns all in questionable repair.

“People are twitchy,” Miranda observed as they passed through the camp fires. All eyes followed them and more than a few whispers. “Not that I blame them, I’d be twitchy too if I’d been locked in this place with a bunch of husks hiding in the shadows.”

At that moment, a crate shifted. Shepard’s team raised their guns and Jacob and Miranda surrounded the three of them in a biotic field, but it was the refugees that opened fire. The wood practically exploded, reduced to nothing more than splinters, and a few rats ran out of the remains.

“They’re biotic…”

It was impossible to tell where the words started but they spread like wildfire through the camp. A crowd rapidly formed around them, though they kept a respectful distance back. A few of them reached toward Miranda and Jacob, their faces a mix of fear and awe, but never close enough to actually touch them.

“What’s with the sudden welcoming party?”

“Human biotics are… immune to the infection.” Miranda supplied. “The implant somehow negates the effects on our biology.”

“It’s a hell of a turn around from being social outcasts,” said Jacob. “With the immunity to the infection, and the ability to shield everyone else from the husks… Well, people warm up to you pretty fast.”

John nodded, digesting the information. He knew one or two people would be happy about the turn around, but thinking back to the extremists, how some biotics felt used and discarded, he privately wondered if some would be bitter about the change in attitudes.

“We need to get to the clinic,” Miranda said, to no one in particular, breaking through John’s thoughts.

“This way.” A kid piped up from the front. She had dirty blonde hair and her clothes didn’t fare much better. “I’ll show you.”

\---

The kid knew the streets well, leading them through several back alleys and safe passageways, neatly sidestepping the areas where fighting had broken out.

They continued on, tents and shanty houses becoming fewer and fewer as they got closer to the barricade that protected them from the husks on the other side. There was another fence surrounding the clinic itself with guards outside the gate, a human man and woman, and a male turian, all wearing hardsuits and helmets. The woman had a transparent visor, the other two were tinted. She started toward them but the turian put a hand on her shoulder and stopped her. He stepped forward to meet them instead, standing squarely between them, holding his assault rifle low but ready.

“What do you want?” he asked, just shy of threatening. The woman stepped up behind him, grinning but not in a very nice way.

“We’re looking for Dr. Mordin Solus,” Shepard attempted to placate them, as Miranda and Jacob came to a stop at his side. “We’re here to help.”

“Uh-huh,” the woman said, eyeing them skeptically.

“I don’t know, Weaver. Maybe we should listen,” the man said. He was still hanging back by the door, his weapon held loosely at his side.

“Bradley!”

“I’m just saying… we need all the help we can get.”

“You really think these people are here to play doctor?”

“A few of us know our way around a scalpel,” Miranda said, her voice icy.

John shot her a quick glare. He was going to insist on their good will but the turian took another step toward them and stretched up to his full height. Shepard imagined that he was glowering down at him, though the visor kept him from confirming his suspicions.

“Oh, I know all about guys like you.” The turian started circling them. John kept himself still, facing forward, but Jacob followed his progress with first with his eyes, then his head, then fully turning when the turian was directly behind them. “You storm in like you own the place, fire a few shots, pretend to be some big damn hero, and then leave with nothing more than an… ‘I should go.’” That made Shepard turn around, just in time to see the turian taking off his helmet. “It’s good to see you, Shepard.”

Shepard had never been more relieved to see a friendly face, though he was visibly older with more than a few new scars. So much had happened in the mere hours since he had woken up that he hadn’t had a chance to realize how alone he felt. How much he needed something familiar to ground him. Joker had been a start but down here the pilot wasn’t much help. John broke formation, leaving the other humans behind to hug his old friend.

“You too, Garrus.”

Vakarian gestured toward the gate, indicating for the three of them to follow. Weaver gave him a look but went back to her position with Bradley when he nodded at her. Shepard kept pace with him while Jacob and Miranda and the other guards parted for them.

“Looks like you’re getting into trouble again,” Garrus said, leading them to the clinic door.

“The trouble was already here,” Shepard corrected. “I’m just being the big damn hero.”

“I’m going to need to let my team know but it shouldn’t take too long. I’m coming with you. I’ll be ready by the time you’re done with Mordin.”

“Excuse me,” Miranda cut in. “I’ll need to clear that with-”

Garrus turned to look at her but didn’t stop moving. To Shepard, he asked, “Who’s your friend?”

“Miranda Lawson,” John answered. “And Jacob Taylor. My team.”

“Spirits, Shepard, you’re in worse shape than the last time I joined up.”

“This is a bad one, probably suicide.”

“It’s always suicide. I’m right behind you.” Garrus stopped and added, “Here we are.”

The clinic was one of the few buildings still standing in its entirety, though the outside wasn’t well cared for. Shepard supposed the medical staff had more important things to do than worry about the landscaping. Garrus left them at the door, promising to meet them there in a few minutes. John watched him go, already missing the familiar presence of his friend. Miranda cleared her throat and then they headed in.

The inside was in better condition than the outside, thankfully, but there were patients crammed in each and every corner. There was some nurses and a few volunteers tending to the patients in the worst condition, but it was hardly enough considering the sheer volume of sick people in the rooms. A salarian stood at a terminal towards the centre of the room, talking quietly to himself.

“Are you Mordin Solus?”

“Hmm,” the salarian said, though John didn’t think it was in answer to his question. His eyes darted over first Shepard, then Miranda and Jacob. “Don’t recognize you from the area. Too well armed to be refugees. No mercenary uniform. Quarantine still in effect. Here for something else.”

“We’re here for you, Professor,” Shepard answered, cutting off his monologue. “We need your help.”

“Hah!” Mordin laughed, a single, hard syllable. “Lots of people need my help.” He pointed to the nearest patient, lying on a makeshift hospital bed. “Him.” He next pointed to two Batarians lying together, coughing and wheezing. “And her. And him. Batarians especially succumb slowly. Painfully. A bullet might be kinder.” He frowned. “All of them. Need help.”

“And if there was a way to help them? All of them, without having to put them out of their misery?” Miranda stepped in this time. “We have a lab with your name on it, if you’re willing.”

“Hmm. Trying to find a cure? I see. Cerberus sent you. Trying to right their wrongs, perhaps? Correct their mistake?”

“Mistake?”

“Will you help us or not?” Miranda interrupted again. “We think Shepard’s blood might be the answer to finding a cure.”

“Interesting. Thought Batarian resistance could be secret to cure. Not working. Progression is slowed but still fatal in the end. Infection not fully biological. Then thought human biotic immunity might be the key. Will need more data. Why your blood?”

“I died.” Shepard said simply. “They brought me back, and now I seem to be immune.”

“Hmm. Not biotic. No amp.” Mordin regarded John with a look that he might also give to a specimen under his microscope. “What makes you so sure you’re immune because of Cerberus? Maybe always were?”

“Maybe. I don’t know.” John shook his head, sighing internally. “I don’t know a lot of things, but if I can find a cure for this thing, I’m going to try.”

“Admirable. Possibly insane. Dangerous. But admirable.” Mordin spent a moment reflecting then took a deep breath. “Mission accepted.”

“You’re coming?” Jacob asked. “You’ll help us?”

“Same goals. Why not? If up to me, wouldn’t be an infection in the first place. That time has passed. Now we fix it.”

\---

Shepard sighed as he entered his cabin, resisting the urge to reach up and rub his temples. It had been a long day and it wasn’t over yet, but he’d managed to snag ten minutes to himself and he wanted to spend it in solitude. The good thing about the new Normandy was the relative isolation of the captain’s cabin.

The blinking red light at his terminal caught his attention and he sighed again. So much for a break. He placed his too-warm coffee on the ringed coaster before he sat down to read the latest messages. A quick skim of the subjects told him the was nothing urgent: “Thank you Shepard,” “Nice work,” “Thanks for stopping by.” He slumped in his chair, relieved.

The picture on his desk caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. It hadn’t been there this morning, and it was out of place in its familiarity. He’d had the same picture on the SR-1, though the frame was different, new rather than worn, rounded corners instead of square. The photo inside was the same though. Same brown eyes and dark hair. Kaidan. The holo-photo flickered slightly as he picked it up, bringing it closer.

 _Where was Kaidan now?_ John wondered. His heart clenched as he remember it had been two years… Kaidan would have moved on by now. Maybe he’d met someone else. He could have settled down, gotten married, had kids. He had always wanted a family. Of course- John’s chest tightened -that was all assuming he was still alive. Kaidan would have been the first to volunteer for the most dangerous assignments and anything could have happened in the chaos that was the galaxy right now.

“Shepard,” the voice of the ship’s new AI, EDI, filtered in through his melancholy. “Miss Lawson would like to speak with you.”

“Send her up,” he said, sitting up straighter and placing the picture back down.

Miranda must have already been on her way when EDI had messaged him. She arrived only a few seconds later and strode straight over to him at his desk.

“Shepard, take a look at this,” Miranda said, dropping a file to the table, narrowly avoiding Shepard's coffee mug. “Dr. Solus said he needs a more powerful biotic for the tests. I have a lead but getting her out may be… difficult.”

“A prisoner? Really? You think she’s going to help us?”

“Given the choice between this and jail, what would you choose?”

“Alright. We can give it a shot. What do you have in mind?”

\---

Joker flew them straight to the prison ship, no delays. The trip was short, barely giving Shepard and the rest of the ground team enough time to gear up. It was larger than most ships of its type, more modern, and a quick scan of the exterior revealed it was fitted with some of the latest tech, including a number of shield and weapon upgrades.

“These prisoners must be some of the worst of the worst, if they need this kind of high end facility to contain them. Looks like fun.” Garrus drawled, as he, Shepard, and Miranda got ready to board.

“Heaven knows what these prisoners are in for,” Miranda said. “Try not to goad them.”

“No promises,” Garrus purred and Miranda glared at his back.

They were greeted by three prison guards when they arrived, and the lead officer, a barefaced turian, approached. His armour was practically sparkling, glinting in the fluorescent lights of the docking bay. Either the armour was brand new, or he never got his hands dirty. Shepard suspected both.

“I’m the warden,” said the officer. “What brings you to my ship?”

“I’m Commander Shepard, Council Spectre. We need access to one of your prisoners.”

“Certainly. Just give your weapons to my colleague here and we’ll let you on through.”

The warden gestured to one of his subordinates, who stepped forward and reached for Shepard’s gun. He hesitated when Shepard turned to glare at him. All the commanding authority of Shepard’s rank was sent in the guard’s direction with one look.

“Erm…” The guard’s hand hovered, outstretched, though he’d barely taken a step. “This is a high security vessel, sir. It is standard procedure to leave the weapons at the door. Even to interrogate someone.”

“It’s my procedure to keep my gun. Spectre authority.” The warden considered, no doubt calculating the risk. Eventually he nodded and the guard, obviously relieved, dropped his hand and stepped back into place. Shepard continued. “And we’re not here to interrogate, we’re taking her with us. I need a powerful human biotic to help us find a cure for the infection. Jack is that person.”

The warden regarded them cooly, “You can take your prisoner. For a price.”

“Are you in the habit of selling prisoners to the highest bidder?”

“We do what we have to to keep these convicts behind bars. We keep tight control of the population, and we house thousands of criminals. That isn’t cheap. You don’t get to speak to the prisoners, let alone take one, without payment. Spectre authority or not.”

Shepard clenched his jaw, his patience running out. He caught movement out of the corner of his eye and saw that Garrus had subtlety moved to a better position in case guns were drawn. Likewise, Miranda had shifted enough to have room for a biotic attack. Just before Shepard could pull his weapon and insist a little harder, a ship wide alert was broadcast, breaking Shepard and the guards out of their deadlock. Over the speakers, the ship’s computer announced: “Prisoner escaping, sector 34. Prisoner escaping, sector 34. All available personnel to implement code 956 Alpha Two Point Three. This is not a drill.”

  
“Sector 34. That’s Jack. Is this your doing, Shepard?” The warden all but growled at the boarding party. Pointing at the nearest guard he turned his back, walking back towards the door. “Officer Darnus, get them off my ship. Everyone else, contain the prisoner. Move!”

The officers fell into line behind the warden, exiting the docking bay and heading further into the ship. One turian guard was left behind. Officer Darnus, Shepard presumed. He stared at the guard, narrowing his eyes and setting his jaw.

“Well…” The guard shifted in the face of Shepard’s ire, adjusting his grip on his weapon and clearing his throat. “It’s time to go. Uh. Commander.”

“Really now.” Even with his back to Garrus, Shepard could feel Vakarian’s eye roll. “And just what exactly are you going to do about it?”

The entire ship shook, reverberating with a bang that echoed from deep within.

“Hull breaches in sector 7, 15 and 29. No survivors. Prisoner Cell Unit Security Override. All prisoners released.”

The ship’s computer interrupted again. The lone guard inhaled sharply when the computer confirmed again that all prisoners were now loose, fear sparking in his eyes. Shepard used it to his advantage, pressing forward and punching Darnus in the face. He grabbed the turian’s weapon and hit him with butt. Garrus followed, moving in to help. They left him, tied up and unconscious, against the wall of the docking bay.

“Let’s go find Jack.”

\---

The team ran through the halls of the ship, following the noises and vibrations, figuring Jack would be where the fighting was thickest.

Shepard led the charge. Miranda followed, biotics at the ready, with Garrus bringing up the rear. They passed the body of a guard, then another, beaten bloody and bruised on every inch of visible skin. If they were still alive, they probably wished they weren’t. Shepard didn’t have time to check. A group of three prisoners was trying to break into the guard’s breakroom up ahead. One of the prisoners, a toothy blonde woman turned to face them as they approach. She hit her companion on the back several times to get his attention from where he was focused on violent kicks to the break room door.

“What the fuck d’you want Ness?” he said, turning around at the blonde’s insistence. His eyes went wide when he saw Shepard pointing his gun. The woman just grinned. All at once, as if with some unspoken signal, the three convicts charged.

Miranda took out the second man with her biotics immediately. Shepard squared off with the first man, punching him in the face, but his movements were erratic and he had weight on his side. He got a few blows in before Shepard had him in a crumpled heap on the floor. The blonde jumped at Garrus, joined by another two prisoners who had heard the commotion from down the hall. After a brief struggle Garrus elbowed the blonde in the stomach and she finally fell to the ground, weapon clattering across the floor. Shepard moved on, taking out the other two prisoners with a series of swift hits, as well as knocking out a guard who tried to get in their way.

They rounded the next corner, only a little worse for wear, and Shepard steered them to the side of the hallway, backs pressed flat against the walls to avoid the guard that had been flung biotically in their direction. He crashed against the safety glass shielding, cracks instantly spider-webbing out from the impact.

Coming to the junction of the hall, John peeked around the corner. A lone tattooed woman was taking on a room full of guards. He counted at least seven guards attempting to subdue this single prisoner.

 _Must be Jack,_ he thought.

She hardly seemed like she needed their help. She dominated the battlefield, flinging biotic shockwaves and taking out three guards in one hit, only to turn around and kick a fourth guard in the face, blood immediately spurting from his nose. Shepard thought he might’ve lost a few teeth too. Despite her competence, they went into battle, taking out the last few remaining officers.

“Get the fuck out of my way Cerberus scum,” Jack shouted, as both she and Shepard took on the final guard. He fell to the floor with a stab from Shepard’s omni-blade and a biotic blast from Jack.

“We’re not Cerberus,” Shepard said, stepping over the body of the prison officer on the floor. Jack gave him a flat look, eyes lingering on the Cerberus logo on Miranda’s uniform, before moving back to lock eyes with John. “She is. But I’m not. I’m Commander Shep-”

“I don’t give a fuck. Get out of my way!” She shoved past Shepard, nearly knocking into Vakarian too, but he had the good sense to move out of her path as she strode towards the door on the other side of the room.

“Where are you going to go?” Shepard called. “The ship’s falling apart. The escape pods on this floor were lost in the hull breach. You’ll never make it to the others before the whole place disintegrates.”

“You got an alternative?” Jack shouted, barely pausing in her stride.

“Come with us, on my ship,” he answered. She stopped, eyeing him suspiciously, and he quickly added, “We’re your only way out of here.”

“And you’re just doing this out of the goodness of your heart. Saving the life of a known convict because it’s the right thing to do?” She narrowed her eyes at him. “What’s in it for you?”

“We’re working on a cure for the infection and we need a strong biotic to complete it.”

That made her pause. Something in her face changed and she gave John a look so calculating he felt less like a bug under a microscope and more like a mouse cornered by a cat.

“I’ll come with you,” she said, baring her teeth when Miranda opened her mouth to speak and the operative closed it again without saying anything. “But in return I want access to Cerberus’ files. All of them. Everything you’ve got on that ship of yours.”

“Deal.”

Shepard didn’t even blink. Jack didn’t smile, but her posture relaxed a fraction. Not enough to actually be relaxed, but she looked less like she was about to go for Shepard’s throat. Miranda’s mouth fell open again.

“Shepard, you are not authorised to-”

“Can it, cheerleader.” Jack flipped her the bird as she fell in line by Shepard’s side.

\---

Jacob laughed at him when he entered the armoury.

“Oh boy, Commander,” he said, putting one of the weapons he was cleaning back down on the table in front of him. “I heard all about your promise from Miranda. She is pissed.”

“I did what was necessary. Curing this infection is more important than keeping Cerberus’s secrets.”

“If she helps us, you mean. From your report, she agreed to come with us, not to let Dr. Solus poke her with needles. And so far all she’s done is tell Mordin to ‘get fucked.’”

“Damn.” Shepard pinched the bridge of his nose between is thumb and forefinger. “Where is Miranda now?”

“With the Doctor in his lab. And I’m staying out of her way.”

“I guess I’ll have to bite the bullet then.”

“Good luck.”

Shepard turned and left, heading to the lab. Miranda and Mordin were in the middle of a heated conversation, and both looked up when he arrived.

“Well Shepard, I hope you’re happy,” Miranda scoffed. “The criminal gets access to our intel and a free ride.”

“No luck getting Jack to help with the infection, Mordin?”

“Not yet. Understandable, given background. Does not want to be Cerberus’s medical experiment. Again.”

“Again?”

“Oh, yes. Capture. Torture. Repeated exposure to husk bites to test biotic immunity. All in her personnel file.”

John spun toward Miranda. “You didn’t think to tell me this?”

“That facility was operating outside its assignment and without our knowledge or approval,” she answered. “Besides it wasn’t relevant at the time. A few blood draws is still a better option than spending the rest of her life on a prison ship.”

“It still would have been good to know she had a reason to refuse to help us.”

“Hey Commander,” Joker’s voice broke through over the comms. “I’ve got an incoming transmission. You’re going to want to hear this.”

“Broadcast it over the comms in the lab.”

“Aye-aye. Patching it through.”

“Mayday. Mayday. Mayday. This is Sanctuary Horizon. We are under attack.”

Shepard knew that voice. He’d heard it in his dreams, laughing over coffee, whispering across his pillow. He didn’t think he’d ever hear it like this.

“Repeat. This is Sanctuary Horizon. We are under attack.” The line was full of white noise, the words distorted almost to the point of being unrecognisable. Shepard’s heart was in his throat as he heard Kaidan describe the situation. “The husks have found us. They’re at the gates. There’s too many of them. We can’t keep them out much longer.”

The call cut out with a fizz of static and aside from the hum of the Normandy’s engine, the room was silent.

“Joker, where is Sanctuary Horizon?”

“Third planet of the Iera System,” the pilot answered. “Shadow Sea cluster.”

“Plot a course immediately.”

“No, Shepard,” Miranda interrupted. “We can’t waste time with missions like this. We have to find a cure. If we keep getting sidetracked trying to help every single civilian it drastically reduces our chance of succeeding before the husks wipe everyone out.”

“Sanctuary Horizon,” Mordin interrupted, “full of biotics. Might be useful if Jack continues to be uncooperative.”

“Kaidan is biotic. He’d help us.”

“Kaidan?”

“Commander Alenko, the man who sent the distress signal. He is… was part of my crew. He has an L2 implant and spikes higher than most L3s. Do you think that would be enough for your research, Mordin?”

“Unsure. Possible. Difficult to judge without studying myself. Should go. Might be useful.”

“Fine,” Miranda sighed. “Horizon it is.”


	3. Chapter 3

The shuttle dropped them off immediately behind Sanctuary Horizon’s main gate. Shepard had read the file. The Sanctuary itself had been a small colony before the infection, which had survived this long by being one of the first settlements to build an enclosing wall- 9 feet high in this case -and not one of the first planets infected. Since then it had expanded, home to refugees of all species. Everyone was fleeing from the infection.

They’d seen a crowd of husks hanging around the east wall as they’d flown in. Garrus had taken a few out as they’d circled slowly overhead, but the rest still lingered. They didn’t seem to be attacking, just...waiting. Nothing as urgent as Kaidan’s message had suggested. The shuttle’s landing sent loud thuds echoing eerily around the houses, bouncing off the metal walls. Shepard jumped down and surveyed the drop off point. It was deserted.

“Something’s not right.”

“Agreed.” Mordin was the last to disembark the shuttle and he blinked slowly in the bright light of Horizon’s sun. “Suggest we head to the East wall. See if anyone is planning to do something about the unwanted guests outside.”

“I didn’t see anyone through my scope when I was shooting.” Garrus flared his mandibles, looking to Shepard for orders.

“Someone needs to take care of those husks. If the people here aren’t doing it, then we’ll need to. Maybe we’ll find someone on the way who can help us.”

Garrus nodded and fell into position. “This way then. Best line of sight. Just in case.”

“Just in case,” Shepard repeated.

They moved slowly, treading carefully and watching for any sign of the colonists or refugees. It was silent.

“Where are all the people? I-”

“Ssh. I hear something,” Shepard cut Garrus off. Whatever he was going to say was forgotten as the three strained to hear a faint scratching sound, like nails on sheet metal, barely audible but conspicuous in the relative silence. “This way.”  
  
Following the sound, Shepard led them to the left around several scattered housing structures. The sand under their feet grew harder, more compact, eventually becoming a footpath formed from use over time. A few larger buildings loomed ahead of them and the scratching got louder the closer they got.

“Garrus, what’s going on up there?” Shepard could see an isolated building in the distance, and something was moving around the outside. “Are those husks?”

“Confirmed,” Garrus said, using the scope on his rifle to get a good look. “Infected husks. Three of them.”

“What are the husks doing inside the Sanctuary?”

“Bad news,” Mordin said. “Very bad. Hopefully not too late.”

Shepard nodded his agreement, then ordered, “Garrus, take them out.”

Three shots later there were three more dead husks in the world. Garrus lowered his gun and they moved towards the house, intending to find out what had made them so determined to get inside. Shepard picked the lock while Mordin and Garrus kept watch. The door opened and the three slipped inside, making sure to close it tight behind them.

Another noise, a shuffle, sounded from the corner of the dark room.

“Who’s there?” Shepard automatically lifted his gun to the sound, though it didn’t sound like husks, infected or otherwise. He was right; a short, panicked looking man revealed himself from the shadows.

“You’re human!” he said. “What are you doing? You’ll lead them right to me!”

“You had to have heard them trying to get in,” Garrus said, dryly. “Notice how it stopped?”

“We already took care of them,” Shepard continued. “But what are you doing here? Where’s everyone else?”

“I came down to check on the main grid after we lost our comms signal. Then I heard screaming. I looked outside and there was a hole in the wall. They got Lilith, I saw them, attacking her. Biting her. And then she… They managed to get the wall blockaded again, but not before a few dozen got through. I sealed the door. Don’t know about anyone else.”

“We received a mayday signal from Kaidan Alenko,” Garrus filled in. “Where is he?”

“I don’t know. Goddamn useless Alliance. Never around when you need ‘em.”

Shepard shoved down the anger rising in his chest and asked, “What about the other civilians?”

“Probably all sealed in the safe houses. Hopefully all sealed in the safe houses. Don’t know how long the doors will last though.”

“That’s our goal, then.” He changed his thermal clip and checked his rifle mod. Next to him Garrus did the same and Mordin made a few adjustments to his omni-tool. “Let’s go husk hunting.”

“I’ll let you out,” the man said, “but I’m locking the door behind you.”

“Understood.”

Shepard and his team left the building with the man sealed securely inside.

\---

It didn’t take long to find the safe houses. They were three robust looking structures, made of much thicker, reinforced metal, with some of the best security Shepard had seen on a colony, and built in such a way that suggested they went underground. The other giveaway was the group of husks clustered around each, tearing at the walls. They were nearly through.

“What’s the plan, Shepard?”

“Find a defensive position. Draw the husks to us and away from the people in the safe houses. Eliminate the threat.”

“Good plan. I like it.”

“Garrus, take the stairs. You’re going up top. Find a vantage point on the roof and take as many out as you can.”

“Got it.”

“Mordin, you’re with me. We’re going to draw them to us, get them away from those walls.”

The first part of the plan went off without a hitch. A little shouting, a few shots, and the husks at the walls decided a human and a salarian out in the open were a more interesting opportunity than having to make it into the building. With Garrus providing cover from the roof, the three had no trouble managing the crowd of husks.

Then a swarm of them burst out of the nearest safehouse. Someone bitten must have made it in before they locked up and had infected those inside with them. In a matter of seconds the number of infected enemies tripled. Shepard and Mordin were slowly pushed backward, retreating to the building where Garrus was firing shot after shot, trying to keep them from being overrun.

Shepard had just ordered Mordin up to the roof with Garrus when EDI’s voice purred through his comm, “Commander.”

“Little busy here, EDI.”

“I believe I may be able to provide assistance.”

A husk darted past him toward the staircase and he turned his back to the rest of them to gun it down. One of them leapt at him from behind. He spun around and brought his rifle up just in time to shoot it point blank in the head.

“What’ve you got?”

“There are a number of automated turrets on top of the surrounding buildings. It appears that the colonists were attempting to design a targeting system to identify infected husks specifically. If you sync them with the Normandy’s systems I should be able to control them remotely.”

“Just tell me what to do.”

“There should be a transmitter to broadcast their signal. I will be able to do the rest. However it will take some time, and you will need to stay in range to avoid the transmitter being destroyed.”

“Understood. Point me to the transmitter.”

“Right of your current position, 15 meters ahead.”

“Got it!” Shepard ran to the transmitter and instantly hit the switch to get it booted up.

“Initiating syncing. Please hold your position.”

A husk appeared behind Shepard and he punched it in the face before using his omni-blade to take it out. Another ran at him from his left and he aimed for the legs until it was just a torso lying on the floor.

“Syncing 40% complete.”

A third tried to climb over the nearest storage crate and attack from above, but with ranged support from Garrus and Mordin, it was quickly taken out. Shepard shot the next in the head as it tried to build up speed.

“Bypassing failsafes and attempting emergency power up. Turrets at 100%. I have control.”

Six turrets on the highest rooftops powered to life, guns locking position. Shepard maintained cover and they made quick work of the remaining husks. Garrus and Mordin continued to pick off those that avoided the turret fire and any that got too close to Shepard quickly felt his blade.

Eventually all was quiet. The husks were dead, and the turrets fell silent. Mordin and Garrus climbed down from their rooftop positions and rejoined Shepard on the ground.

“Good work guys. Thanks for the assist.”

“We’ve always got your back, Shepard.”

“Shepard?” A new voice cut through, but not an unfamiliar one. “I suppose since there are zombies, why shouldn’t there be ghosts?”

“Kaidan.” All the things John wanted to say escaped him and his voice stuck in his throat. The colonists were piling out of the safe houses with the all clear, but John could only focus on the man in front of him. “Hi.”

“Not exactly the greeting I was hoping for,” the biotic answered.

Before Shepard could say anything else, Kaidan pulled him in for a hug. It surprised him so much it took John a full minute to return the embrace, but when he did he melted into it. Kaidan smelled like sweat and eezo and Alliance-issue soap and John felt the world righting itself as he breathed in the scent of his skin.

“We thought you were dead, John.” Kaidan pulled back, and John let him go reluctantly. Kaidan’s gaze was searching, and John felt him trying to find the answers to his unasked questions in the fine lines and scars on John’s face.

“I _was_ dead, Kaidan. You don’t survive being spaced like that.”

“And yet, here you are two years later.” He laughed but the sound held more mourning than humor. “Worst two years of my life but here you are. Alive and well. How could you put me through that? Did you even try to contact me?”

“I’ve only been awake a few weeks and I didn’t know where you were or how to find you. Plus, the galaxy’s all gone to hell. That’s why we’re here. Cerberus thinks-”

Kaidan took a step back, his eyes narrowed as he regarded Shepard. His expression was cold and hard in a way that John had never seen.

“You’re with Cerberus now.” He glanced past Shepard. “Garrus too.”

“They’re the ones who brought me back. They think they can use me to cure the infection.”

“Now they care?” Kaidan laughed again and it was somehow worse than the first time. “There wouldn't _be_ an infection if it weren’t for Cerberus.”

“What do you mean by that?” Shepard frowned as Kaidan took another step back.

“Why don’t you ask whatever puppetmaster is pulling your strings?”

“Damn it, Kaidan,” Garrus interrupted. “You’re so focused on Cerberus you’re ignoring the real threat.”

“It doesn’t matter how it started,” John agreed, though he made a note of the way Kaidan’s mouth turned tight at the corners. “It’s here now and we need to focus on curing it. Doctor Solus thinks he can make that cure but we need biotics to do it, strong ones. I was hoping… I thought you could help.”

“I want to believe you, Shepard. I want to help. But I don’t trust Cerberus and I don’t want a part in anything they’re running. I’ve got to check in with my people.” He started to leave but stopped and added over his shoulder with a sigh. “There are some other biotics here. I’ll tell them what you told me and send them your way if they are willing. That’s all I can do.”

\---

“How’s it going?” Shepard asked Mordin.

The doctor had set up a small lab outside one of the buildings for collecting blood samples from any willing biotics. True to his word, Kaidan told them Shepard’s plan and a few had come to help. Their help defending the sanctuary and fixing the turrets had not gone unnoticed either; a few of the refugees had stopped by just to thank them.

“Some progress. Not much.” The salarian sighed. “New samples. No significant differences from Miranda, Jacob. More data, yes, but population likely too homogenous. Powerful biotics needed to see how virus interacts.”

“You need Jack.”

“Or Commander Alenko.”

John snorted. “Good luck with that. He made it pretty clear he has no interest if Cerberus is involved.”

In response, the salarian just nodded past Shepard. He turned to see not one but two familiar faces. Well, one face, one visor.

“Shepard!” Tali cried, running forward. Even though her face was hidden the happiness in her voice was impossible to miss. She threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly. “Shepard, you’re alive!”

“That’s what they tell me,” he answered giving her an extra squeeze in return. He’d been trying not to worry too much about his old crew, but seeing Tali alive was a relief and he couldn’t help but smile into the hug. “It’s great to see you. What’re you doing here?”

“I was working on a targeting algorithm for the turrets. But it seems someone else beat me to it. Now I’m trying to convince this bosh’tet-” she jerked her head toward Kaidan “-that sulking is not the best way to get what he wants.”

Kaidan huffed and John noticed for the first time that he was holding a datapad. Kaidan glanced back at him and when their eyes met the hard lines around Kaidan’s eyes seemed to soften.

“What do you want, Kaidan?” he asked, his voice gentler than he expected.

“I…” Kaidan cleared his throat, then held the datapad out to him. “I want you to look at this. It’s everything we have about the source of the infection. If you read this and keep it in mind going forward, I’ll let the doctor do whatever tests he needs.”

“I will,” Shepard said, standing up a fraction straighter and giving him a solemn nod. “I promise.”

Kaidan returned the nod, then turned his attention to Mordin. “What do you need Dr. Solus?”

“Standard health information,” the salarian answered. “Blood samples. Biotic measures. Implant and amp specifications.”

“I’ll… leave you to it,” Shepard said. He glanced down at the datapad in his hand then back at Kaidan, who gave him a grim smile. “Want to see the new Normandy, Tali? They tell me it’s an upgrade even from the original.”

“Of course!” Tali said and even though he couldn’t see her face he knew she was grinning.

“Mordin, let me know if you find something.”

The salarian hummed in response, too engrossed with his work to answer properly. Tali patted Kaidan on the shoulder and then followed Shepard toward the ship.

\---

Kaidan settled into the seat that Mordin offered while the salarian called up his omni-tool. He started with basic scans of his amp and implant, making a special note that he was an L2, then asked him to do a series of basic techniques while he took readings of the power spikes. Only when he was satisfied with the noninvasive measures did the doctor bring over a tray of medical implements, setting them down on a small table near Kaidan’s elbow.

“You really think you can cure this thing?” Kaidan asked.  
  
“Yes. Your blood, Shepard’s blood. All the data I need. Greatest concern time. Easier now, with access to Cerberus’s notes. Jack gave to me.”

“Jack?”

“Powerful biotic. Doesn’t like Cerberus. Unwilling to provide sample. Shame. But understandable, given her history.”

Kaidan heard shouting from outside, and a loud thud as something clattered to the ground. The tent door whipped to the side in a flash of blue and a woman with a shaved head and more tattoos than clothing stormed into the lab.

“If you think you’re leaving me on this dump of a planet, you’ve got another-” She stopped when she realized Mordin and Kaidan were the only ones in the tent. “Where the fuck is he?”

“Jack,” Mordin said as an introduction. He wrapped a tourniquet around Kaidan’s bicep and expertly slipped a needle into a vein, filling the first of several tubes.

“Shepard went back to the… ” Kaidan trailed off. Calling it “Normandy” was more than he could manage. “Back to the ship.”

“And who the fuck are you?”

“Kaidan Alen-”

“Ah, the new biotic guinea pig for Cerberus’s latest pet project. Better you than me, buddy.”

“I’m not here for Cerberus,” Kaidan spat back. Mordin tapped his forearm and he relaxed his hand so the doctor could switch vials. “Not at all. They’ve done unspeakable things, on more than one occasion.”

“Oh, I know what they’ve done. Better than most.”

She shoved her arm toward him and he noticed for the first time that there were bite scars hidden by her tattoos. Husks undoubtedly. A closer look at the rest of her body showed several more. Kaidan had suspected this wasn’t Cerberus’s first time experimenting with biotic immunity but this was the first actual proof he’d found. And he was ready to bet she hadn’t been involved willingly.

Jack sneered when he looked away but his voice was steady when he spoke again. “I don’t trust Cerberus. But if Dr. Solus can find a cure, I need to do what I can.”

“And it has nothing to do with the boyscout?” she leered, the instant change in atmosphere almost giving Kaidan whiplash.

“Part of what I can do is keep the wool out of his eyes,” he ventured slowly. “I do this, John reads my file. At least then he’ll know what he’s dealing with.”

“Uh-huh,” she said, clearly not buying it. “You know _John_ turned this ship around the second he got your SOS, right? Dropped everything and went riding in like some knight in shining armor. For you.”

“I… um.” Kaidan stuttered, red flush rising on his cheeks. “Shepard and I… Our relationship was a long time ago. Things have changed.”

“If you believe his story, it was two weeks ago tops for him. He was dead. For him it probably feels like he had a nap and he woke up to the apocalypse, with his favourite boy toy gone with the wind.” She gestured with her tattooed fingers, a vague floating motion Kaidan assumed was meant to be an imitation of his supposed disappearance.

“Can confirm change in Shepard’s behaviour after receiving your distress call,” Mordin said. “Supports Jack’s analysis. Suggests strong emotional attachment to you. Was pleased to hear you were alive. Also worried. Worried you were in danger.”

“Doesn’t matter. He’s working with Cerberus now. I couldn’t-”

“But you agreed to their tests.”

“This is different,” Kaidan argued, stretching his arm when Mordin released it. The blood collected, the doctor withdrew the needle and pressed a small square of gauze to Kaidan’s skin. “It’s not teaming up with the enemy.”

“Might as well be. Only difference is you’re not going to be there to watch lover boy’s back.”

“And what about you?” Kaidan was deflecting and he knew it. So did she. “After what they did to you, you’re just going to walk away? You don’t want to stop it, see it to the end?”

“Cerberus can fucking choke. The last place I want to be is on their fucking ship doing their fucking mission.”

“What about Shepard? Do you trust him?”

“I guess the boyscout seems better than most. He got me off the prison ship, followed through with the information I asked for, and is willing to drop me off here. Even if it is a shithole. Cerberus is going to chew him up and spit him out.”

“So watch Shepard’s back,” Kaidan suggested, deciding to ignore her assessment of the colony. He wasn’t sure if he was trying to convince her or himself. “Keep an eye on Cerberus, maybe.”

“I wouldn’t put it past them to keep the cure for themselves.” Jack picked up one of Mordin’s clamps and began playing with it, twirling it on her finger, opening and closing it. Kaidan hoped it wasn’t something that was going to be used on him. Jack continued without noticing the discomfort on his face. “Or for humanity only. Or just try to sell it to the highest bidder.”

“We need to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

“ _You_ need to make sure that doesn’t happen,” she corrected, shaking the clamp at him. “Though I have to admit, it is a once in a lifetime opportunity to fuck with Cerberus.”

Mordin finished labeling the samples and began packing them along with his equipment to return to the ship.

“So you’re going?” Kaidan asaked Jack.

“Guess so.” She barked a laugh. “The cheerleader is going to freak.”

“And you’ll keep an eye on Shepard?”

“Hell no. That’s your job, lover boy. If I have to go, you’re going too.”

\---

It had barely taken three minutes in the engine room before Tali, Donnelly, and Daniels were in a heated discussion about thermodynamics and dark energy principles and a number of other technical things that made Shepard’s eyes glaze over. He told Tali to have EDI contact him when she was leaving so he could see her off but she just laughed. There was no way she could leave his ship in the hands of anyone else; she was staying and seeing the mission through with him. The tone of her voice told him there was no point in arguing so he simply gave her another hug and headed to the loft.

The elevator ride up from the engine room gave him plenty of time to think, though he had nothing he really wanted to think about. Mostly he just went over and over the reunion on Horizon. He scrubbed his face and growled at himself. He’d screwed the whole thing up and who knew if there was anything he could do to fix it.

He reached the loft and made a beeline for the minibar. Kaidan might have agreed to Mordin’s tests but that was for the sake of the cure and making him read the file. He retrieved a bottle whiskey and poured himself a drink. It went down smooth, which only made it worse because it reminded him of shore leave after the Battle of the Citadel, how Kaidan had gagged on the cheap stuff that had come with the hotel room and said that he’d take the Savior of the Citadel out for a real drink the next day.

John glanced up through the glass of the display case. He could barely make out the top of the frame but he imagined Kaidan staring out at him from the picture.

Maybe there was one thing he could do.

He retrieved the datapad and opened the first file, a proposal from one Doctor Ogden Holmes requesting additional Cerberus resources and funding for his research, Project: Ishtar. Less than a page in, he knew he was going to need another drink, and poured himself another glass. Holmes’ work was the stuff of nightmares and stiff liquor was the only way to get through it. He took another swallow and carried on.

He was mostly through the files, the bottle a little less than half gone, when his cabin door opened and Miranda marched into the room. She stopped short at the bottom of the stairs, taking in the man and the alcohol, and simply asked,

“What are you doing?”

“Reading.” He tapped the datapad. “I think, it’s going to be a bestseller.”

“Reading what?”

“A report,” he answered, as if nothing could be more obvious. “Kaidan gave it to me. All the intel the Alliance has on the infection. It was probably treason, technically. It’s highly classified and I don’t have the clearance. Not since I came back from the dead, anyway. Lazarus risen indeed.”

He reached to pour himself another glass but Miranda beat him to the bottle.

“Tell me, Miranda, what’s the one thing you never run out of in a war?” He didn’t give her a chance to answer before continuing. “Read it again EDI, just the good part.”

 

 

> “If you do not open the gate for me to come in,  
>  I shall smash the door and shatter the bolt,  
>  I shall smash the doorpost and overturn the doors,  
>  I shall raise up the dead and they shall eat the living:  
>  And the dead shall outnumber the living!”

“From The Descent of Ishtar,” he said, raising his glass as if in toast. He tapped it against the side of the bottle, still in her hand. “To be fair, the Reapers did start it. Ares teeth, you know. They use our people against us, we use their strategies against them, makes sense right?”

This time he did wait but no answer came. The silence stretched well past the point of uncomfortable before he started again.

“The problem is we couldn’t control a normal husk, no way to override the Reaper programming. So we had to make them just a little more… human.” He held the datapad up for her, showing her a picture of an infected husk wearing a muzzle and a tag with a Cerberus symbol on it. “How could we know it would end up creating an infection capable of turning a healthy organic into a mindless, undead monster?”

“That can’t… I didn’t…” Her voice cracked and she shook her head. John watched her struggle for words in silence. “I would have told you.”

“Would you? There’s a whole Alliance file here and Mordin obviously had suspicions.”

“Of course there were rumors. The Alliance and the STG both have their own agendas and are no friends of Cerberus. But if I’d had any concrete evidence I would have told you.”

“Well, now you do,” he answered, tossing it aside. “So. What did you want? This wasn’t what brought you up here to begin with.”

“No.” She cleared her throat, her professional demeanor returning with a few deep breaths, though John could still see her eyes were unsettled. “Mordin has something. He wants to see us both.”

“Yeah,” he sighed, staring at the bottom of his empty glass. “Yeah, okay. I’ll be right down.”

“There’s something else, Shepard. Jack and Commander Alenko accompanied him back. They came with us when we left Horizon.”

John’s head snapped up in attention, “Kaidan’s here?”

“He is. I’ll meet you in the lab.” She set the whiskey back on the table and left.

Shepard blinked at the bottle a few times, then capped it. He stood slowly and moved to put it back on the bar, trying to focus solely on the task of putting the liquor back in the right place. He knew he should be glad that Kaidan had decided to come, but all he felt in that moment was anxious. He had hoped to have some time to collect his thoughts and then reach out again when he could explain himself coherently. Now he just had to cross his fingers and pray he didn’t make an ass of himself.

Again.

\---

Shepard had no such luck. Kaidan was sitting at a table in the mess when John eventually moved to follow Miranda. Kaidan was reviewing some messages on his omni-tool, dark eyebrows furrowed in the way that meant he was engrossed with the material but not necessarily concerned about it. His other hand held a steaming mug, milk and sugar with a little coffee if John had to guess. There was a small bandage in the crook of his right elbow but besides that he looked fine.

He looked… good.

And now he was looking right back at him.

Shepard blushed, embarrassed to be caught staring, but Kaidan just smiled and said, “Hey.”

“Hey.”

“Do you have a minute?”

“No.” John could have shot himself the moment the word was out of his mouth. “I mean. Yes, just not right now. Mordin wants to talk. Needs to talk. About the mission.”

“Yeah… ” Kaidan didn’t quite manage to hide his disappointment. “When you have some time, then.”

“I’ll make time,” Shepard promised.

He gave Kaidan’s shoulder a quick pat and was surprised when the biotic’s hand reached up and took his. A quick squeeze then it returned to the mug and John crossed the rest of the distance to the lab. Miranda was already there, no surprise, and Mordin started talking before the door had even finished closing.

“Alenko’s blood provided necessary data. Combined with analysis of your blood, was able to isolate specific antibodies for combatting infection. Amino acid sequence and tertiary structure ready for replication.”

“Good work, Mordin,” Shepard said. “Let’s get it out there. We’ll start with hospitals, I guess?”

“Not ready for distribution,” the salarian said. “Chemical composition complete. However. Actual synthesis will require additional equipment not available on Normandy. Multichain DNA sequencer. Immunoassay analyser and synthesiser. Nanoparticle and electron distributor.”

Miranda sighed, shaking her head. “You’re talking about a state of the art biochemical facility with synthetic research capabilities as well.”

“Yes.”

“So, what’s the problem? Surely any place would let you use their equipment if it meant curing the infection. Where’s the closest place that has what you need?”

“No established lab properly equipped,” Mordin answered. He said it so simply, as nothing more than a statement of fact, that it took John a moment to register what he’d said. “Best option to furnish own lab but would take weeks maybe months to collect necessary machines.”

“That’s not true.” All eyes settled on Miranda. “You’d need all that if you were trying to change synthetic tissues to a partially organic state. The facility where the infection originated should have what we need.”

“Possible,” Mordin said. He blinked twice then corrected himself. “Probable. Worth looking into.”

“Are we sure it’s still standing?” Shepard asked, remembering the state of the last station that had experienced an outbreak.

“Prior to the infection, Cerberus security focused primarily on intel. With a few exceptions, the fail-safes were designed to destroy information and the infected don’t show an interest in destruction for its own sake. It’s unlikely we would able to find any of the old research data but the physical equipment should be there."

“That’s all we need. My files didn’t list a location, though.”

“They didn’t have my resources,” Miranda answered. “I’ll try to get the blueprints as well. Let me see what I can find.”

John nodded. “In the meantime, I’ll get the crew together for a briefing. They’re going to want to hear this.”


	4. Chapter 4

Even Miranda couldn’t get the name of the planet or system but the Illusive Man was willing to upload the information directly to the Normandy’s navigational system. A half hour later, the ship was en route to the lab and everyone was gathered in the communication room. Jacob paced a small area in front of the table while Garrus and Tali chatted quietly together. Kaidan sat with them, though he didn’t participate in the conversation, just watched Shepard, their eyes meeting occasionally then drifting away. Even Jack had joined them, though she lurked in the back, arms crossed in a perfect display of apathetic disdain. All conversation stopped though when John cleared his throat and stepped forward with Miranda and Mordin at his side.

“I’ll start with good news,” he said. “Mordin has discovered a cure for the infection. Once distributed it should provide immunity to members of all species.”

“Excellent,” Garrus said. “What’s the bad news?”

“The bad news is that actually creating the cure will require specialized equipment and the only facility with that equipment is the lab where the infection originated.”

“Ground zero,” Jacob murmured and Tali added “Keelah” under her breath.

“Exactly,” Shepard nodded in confirmation. “It’s not going to be easy.”

Kaidan gave him a small, but encouraging smile. “Can’t be harder than tracking a brainwashed rogue Spectre across the galaxy to stop him from bringing back a race of sentient machines whose sole purpose is to destroy all intelligent life.”

“You haven’t heard what Miranda has to say.”

“These are the schematics of the facility,” she said, as the image appeared projected above the conference table.

It was roughly cylindrical, several floors each made of concentric rings, stacked one on top of the other. None of the levels completely matched up with the others, however, giving it an unfinished appearance, as if there was another interlocking piece somewhere that would complete it. A series of shafts, running both horizontal and vertical, connected the rooms.

“The main lab is here, on the lower level,” Miranda continued. “That’s our objective. The facility has active quarantine failsafes in place. They will seal us in, giving Dr. Solus time to synthesize the cure, then once it’s complete, we will leave through this emergency exit, here.”

“That gets us out,” Jacob said, “but what about getting in? It looks like there are two routes. If we split up into two teams we’d be less likely to attract attention, then we could regroup at the lab.”

“No good,” Miranda answered. “Both routes go through an antechamber that has to be accessed from the inside.”

“There has to be something.” Shepard studied the schematic then highlighted a small tunnel. “What about this maintenance shaft?”

“Possible,” Miranda admitted. “Though it has a security shutter system. Whoever we sent in would have to hack each one as they went, probably on a timer.”

“Tali, are you feeling up to that?”

“I… ” Tali trailed off but Kaidan gave her an encouraging pat on the shoulder.

“Of course, you can,” he said. “I bet you could have done it while you were still on your Pilgrimage and you’ve only gotten better in the last two years.”

She looked first at Kaidan, then Shepard, and nodded. “I won’t let you down.”

“Sounds good,” Miranda said. “I’ll lead the second team.”

“Not so fast, cheerleader,” Jack cut her off. “Nobody wants to take orders from you.”

“This isn’t a popularity contest. We need someone who can command loyalty.”

“Exactly. No one wants to take orders from you.” She narrowed her eyes and then turned to Shepard. “I nominate the boyscout. The other boyscout.”

John nodded, then glanced at the man in question, “You’ll lead the second team, Kaidan.”

“Aye-aye, Commander,” he answered. Then, just a little more quietly, “I’ve got your back.”

“Miranda, Garrus, you’re with me. Kaidan, you’ve got Jacob, Mordin, and Jack. Tali, you’re in the shaft.” A collective nod, ran through the group. “I don’t know what we’re going to find in there but I won’t lie to you. It isn’t going to be easy. But we’ve got the best team the galaxy has ever seen. I trust each on of you with my life, the lives of my crew, and the lives of everyone in the galaxy. We might not all make it out, but it’s an honour to fight by your side. This disease is the biggest threat the galaxy has seen and it’s up to us to stop it. Let’s go.”

\---

The mission started out well enough. Neither team encountered resistance and Tali made good time through the shaft. They were within sight of the antechamber, “Project: Ishtar” clearly painted on the doors below a large Cerberus insignia, and Shepard was beginning to feel truly hopeful when there was an eerie silence on the other end of the comm.

“Kaidan? Sit rep?”

“It’s… ” Kaidan’s voice was hushed but the volume only emphasized the fear and disgust it held. “It’s a specimen room, Shepard. There’s… what the hell is that?”

“Krogan,” Mordin answered. “At least, originally. Extensive Reaper modification. Turian DNA present as well. Fascinating…”

“That’s one word for it,” Jacob muttered at the same time Jack said, “More like creepy as fuck.”

“Stay sharp,” Kaidan said after a brief but heavy silence. Even though it was a whisper it was impossible to mistake it for anything besides an order. “Let’s get out here.”

They hadn’t gone another hundred yards before the husks found them. Two or three at first, rushing in from a hall intersecting theirs, easy enough to put down. Miranda ran crowd control, biotics flashing around them. Garrus alternated between tech attacks and his sniper rifle depending on the distance and John ran the close game with his shotgun. But then two or three became four or five, out of every hall, every room, and their progress slowed.

“Shepard.” It was Tali’s voice this time.

“Go ahead, Tali,” he answered, though he kept his gun up even as he did. Garrus’s overload jumped through five husks and he fired into it, the spray killing all but two of the weakened group. Miranda finished them with warps and they continued forward.

“I’m at the last shutter,” she said, “but there’s a heat warning. I won’t be able to open it until you vent the chamber on the other side.”

“Roger that, Tali. On it now.” Miranda slammed a path to the control panel by the door while Garrus and Shepard took up defensive position to keep the husks off her.

“Got it!” Tali said. Another minute and she added, “I’m in the antechamber. Opening the doors now.”

A moment later, the double doors behind Shepard slid open and he and his team slipped in. A handful husks followed them before they shut again but a few shots and a biotic blast made short work of them. Tali had moved on to the second door.

“Faster would be better,” Kaidan whispered. “I don’t like the- Shit! Mordin, on your eight!”

There was a crash and an explosion of gunfire. It was followed by a noise that sounded like a mix of a krogan roaring in bloodrage and a distorted, synthesized Reaper voice. It was so loud Shepard could hear it through the door as well as the comm.

“Tali get those doors open!”

“Almost got it.”

The sight that met Shepard when the doors opened made his blood run cold. The room was filled with infected husks, all moaning and snarling, but everything was completely overshadowed by the monstrosity in the middle of the room. The thing was huge, easily two or three times the size of a krogan, with a vaguely turian head connected to its body by a neck made of tubes and wires. One of its arms ended in a large metal claw, which it raised over its face like a shield as it charged toward Jacob. He dodged out of the way as Jack and Kaidan unleashed biotic attacks at its unprotected back.

“Come on!” John yelled. “We’ll cover you!”

Mordin was the first one through, followed by Jacob. Several husks followed, chasing them or perhaps just coming for the fresh meat Shepard’s team offered. Kaidan was close behind them. Jack stumbled and was immediately buried in pile of husks. A moment later they flew off in an explosion of blue but the brute had nearly caught up to her and, to John’s horror, there were two more of them lumbering up behind.

“Covering fire!” Kaidan yelled, skidding to a stop and turning on his heel to go back for her. John was just a moment behind him. They helped her to her feet and practically dragged her back to the antechamber. The rest of the team unloaded everything they had. The doors had already started to shut and they barely managed to squeeze through. For one wonderful moment it seemed like that would be the end of it but the brute continued to charge and hit the doors at full speed. The force of the impact dented them, keeping them from closing completely. A two foot gap was left in between. It roared and hit them again, trying to shoulder its way through.

“Leave it,” John panted as Garrus helped him to his feet. Miranda was doing the same for Kaidan while Mordin checked that Jack was alright. “We’ve got to be close.”

“Almost there,” Miranda confirmed. “Just down this hall.”

\---

They ran, not bothering to waste time to look behind them, just a dead sprint toward the lab. Once they reached the entrance Miranda and Mordin continued further in while the rest took defensive positions on either side of the doorway.

“You find what we need, Mordin?”

“Yes,” he answered from somewhere further in. “Initiating startup sequence. Four minutes.”

“Miranda?”

“I’ve found the quarantine protocol.” The edge in her voice gave away her concern. “The barrier system isn’t responding. I’m running diagnostics.” Her fingers flew over the interface. “The program’s running properly; it’s got to be a mechanical issue. We won’t be able to fix it here.”

“How long start to finish, Mordin?”

“Forty minutes likely.” He took a deep breath and added. “Maybe half hour.”

John swore under his breath. The doors would certainly slow the husks down but if the safe houses on Horizon were any indication it wouldn’t be enough time. And those had only been human husks. Between the three brutes, John doubted they had fifteen minutes, let alone thirty.

“We’ll go back,” Kaidan said. “You and Mordin stay here, finish the cure. The rest of us will set up a defensive perimeter in the hall.”

“No,” John said. “No, we stay together.”

“We can’t hold them here. It’s too open, there’s too much space.” He took one of John’s hand in both of his. “If we go back to the hall we can use the doors as a choke point, keep ourselves from being flanked or overrun.”

“Kaidan…”

“Oh, for fucks sake,” Jack said, harsh words cutting through any sentiment the moment might have held. “Besides the fact that all your self-sacrificing mushyness is making me sick, it doesn’t matter. Both of you need to stay with the doctor, remember?”

“Could use previous samples,” Mordin corrected, “but faster with you both.”

Both men started to protest but Jack cut them off again. “The rest of us will take the hall. We’ve got this.”

Then, without looking back she headed for the hallway. Miranda was too stunned by the other woman’s actions to say or do anything else besides follow her. Jacob managed a salute.

“You always make us do the hard work anyway, Shepard,” Garrus said. He waited for Tali to hug them both, then added, “We’ll see you on the other side.”

Once it was just the three of them, Mordin ushered them to the area he had set up. A handful of machines had been pulled around a table, as well as the necessary medical supplies and sensors for monitoring them during the procedure.

“Ready?” John asked, as he sat down where Mordin directed.

“Ready,” Kaidan answered. He reached toward John with his free arm and Shepard took his hand. Kaidan gave it a quick squeeze. “Let’s finish this.”

It was strange being connected to the machine. After the initial pinch of the needle it didn’t hurt precisely, more like he was hyper-aware of everything around and inside him. He could suddenly feel the blood in his veins, the currents in his nerves, the expanding and contracting of his muscles.

“John?”

Kaidan’s voice brought him back to reality. The biotic had angled himself slightly more towards Shepard. His eyebrows were knitted together and he chewed on his lip.

“Yeah?”

“How about that talk?”

“Now?” John could feel the blood draining from his face. He tried to convince himself it was some kind of side effect from the machine but he knew better.

“You planning on going somewhere?” Kaidan countered with a small, teasing smile.

“No, I guess not.” He swallowed hard. “Okay, sure. Hit me.”

For all Kaidan’s initial interest in talking, now that he had the go-ahead he faltered. He rubbed the back of his neck before finally starting. “I… I’m sorry. About what I said on Horizon.”

“Kaidan, you don’t have to-”

“No, I do. I want to.”

Shepard pursed his lips but nodded and let Kaidan continue.

“I spent two years putting myself back together after you went down with the Normandy. I was just starting to get back to normal, you know? Trying to let myself have a life again.”

John felt his jaw clench, watched Kaidan’s eyes track the movement. The biotic chuckled a little and ran his thumb over the back of Shepard’s hand.

“When I saw you there, everything… everything just pulled hard to port. Two years of getting over you gone in an instant. But you were with Cerberus and I didn’t… I couldn’t understand how the man I followed to hell and back could think that was the right thing. But now we’re here and there’s a cure for the infection and it’s because of you. A lot changed in the last two years but you didn’t. So I guess what I’m trying to say is that I should have had your back and I’m sorry. I’ll never let you down like that again.”

John shook his head. “You didn’t let me down, Kaidan. You wouldn’t be the man I knew if you’d just abandoned what you believed in to come with me. I’m glad you’re here, more than I could ever say but I’m more glad you’re you.”

“Then I guess the question is, what happens now?”

A few machines beeped in the background. Mordin flushed both of their lines and clamped them, then began inputting commands on the haptic interface.

“It’s like you said. I haven’t changed. It’s only been a few weeks for me. I’m still just as much in love with you as I was the day the Normandy crashed.”

“John, I…” Kaidan’s inhale was unsteady. Two years later he was hearing words he’d never thought he’d hear again. “I love you too.”

  
Mordin was turning off the machine, talking to someone over the comms, but neither of them paid any attention. John leant in and covered Kaidan’s lips with his own. Kaidan had his hand in a death grip, as if afraid he’d disappear if he let go. Kaidan let out a soft sigh, savouring every moment of another thing he thought he’d lost for good.

They only pulled apart, bright-eyed and breathless, when the rest of the team came pounding down the hall and into the lab. Shepard was relieved to note that, besides a few minor injuries, they were all in good shape. Jacob led them back to the emergency exit that was their escape route but Miranda stopped at one of the terminals.

“What are you doing?” Shepard asked.

“The Illusive Man requested we bring back any information or technology that Cerberus could find useful. At the very least he wanted us to make sure the base was in condition for reclaiming once the infection was cured.”

Both Jack and Kaidan had stopped at the mention of the Illusive Man. By the time Miranda had finished her explanation, Jack was actually walking back toward her.

“No,” she said, in a voice that was left no room for argument. “You are not going to give that bastard anything and he doesn’t get to reclaim this place ever again.”

“On that we agree,” Miranda answered nonplussed. “That’s why I’m reconfiguring the emergency generators in a positive feedback loop and syncing them with a switch. It won’t have quite the power of a nuke but it will be more than enough to bury this place.” She offered Jack as small trigger mechanism with a button on the top. “Care to do the honors?”

The gleam in Jack’s eye when she accepted was so wickedly pleased Shepard felt the need to clarify, “Not until we get clear.”

“Maybe this wasn’t such a bad trip after all,” Jack mused as the four of them left the lab.

\---

The beginning of the trip home was more quiet than John had gotten since waking up. Everyone else was busy, reaching out to their respective governments, but for the first time that he could remember Shepard himself had a chance to relax.

Kaidan had been especially busy. He and Miranda had unanimously decided that minimizing Cerberus’s involvement was the best plan, especially in light of how she and Jacob had “resigned,” so it fell to him to contact their human resources. He had spent the better part of an hour in the communications room talking with Udina and Shepard did not envy him that. It was late and John was already in bed when he made it up to the loft.

“How’d it go?” he asked.

“Good, all things considered,” Kaidan answered, changing into sweats. “The Councilor wasn’t too happy about ‘the face of humanity and the Alliance’ working with a terrorist organization but he changed his tune when he realized we had a cure ready for distribution.”

“Any word on how that’s going to work?”

“We’ll start with the Sanctuaries, militaries, and established hospitals,” Kaidan said. “Besides, the Alliance and Council itself, Mordin has some contacts in the STG and Garrus’ father is talking to the Primarch.”

“What about the non-Citadel races?”

“Tali’s been trying to reach the Flotilla. No luck yet but she thinks she’ll have better luck if she tries once she’s off the Normandy. Last I heard Wrex was leading the krogan, so we should do okay there. As for the batarians… we’ll try to reach out but who knows.”

Once in his pajamas, Kaidan turned the lights off and slid into bed behind John, wrapping his arm around him. John’s hand found his under the covers but he received only a distracted hum when he gave the back of Shepard’s neck a kiss, the other man remaining tense in his arms.

“John?”

“Sorry. What?”

“What’s on your mind right now?”

“I was thinking about rebuilding,” he started, his voice barely a whisper. “And how things can finally get back to normal. And then I realized the Reapers are still out there.”

“Yeah. Hell of a thing. Two galactic extinction events sandwiched in each other. As if one wasn’t enough.” Kaidan hugged him tighter then gently pulled at him until he rolled over and their eyes met. “But not tonight. And we’ll face it together in the morning.”

John arched up and gave him a soft kiss.

“Together.”


End file.
